Here's what stood out to the HOL staff from Thursday night's full-pads practice:
Dan's observations
***The secondary had its best night of the fall so far. The secondary had four inceptions, including two by Nate Gerry, and Joshua Kalu, who had yet another strong night, dropped two more. The group as a whole looked very strong and allowed very few completions.
***On the flip side, the quarterbacks had a rough night. They were working without De'Mornay Pierson-El, Jordan Westerkamp, Lane Hovey, Taariq Allen and Brandon Reilly, so their weapons were limited and that certainly affected their performance. But the accuracy overall didn't seem to be there for the position, and there were some visible frustrations shown by the offensive players and coaches.
***Givens Price was working at defensive tackle with the second unit and Hank Hughes said he believes the move is permanent.
***At this point I'd be shocked if Drew Brown isn't the place kicker when the season begins. Jamie Sutcliffe hasn't given him much of a battle and Brown has looked just fine.
***Antonio Reed brings some nastiness to the defense. Working mostly with the No. 3 defense (though he did get a few reps with the twos), Reed was part of one minor scuffle early in practice and had to be separated from a receiver. Later during the scrimmage session Trey Foster made a nice catch for a first down and signaled like an official while dropping the ball. Reed caught the ball and flipped it off Foster's back as the tight end ran back to the huddle, obviously displeased with Foster's showboating.
***The defensive players really seem to be rooting for Charles Jackson. For the second straight open practice Jackson made a jarring hit along the boundary that brought the entire sideline to life. Jackson hasn't gotten much time on the field and has worked mostly with the third-string defense, but there is still hope that he can make an impact if he can stay healthy.
***Alonzo Moore showed great speed and beat his man several times on fly routes, but each time the quarterbacks were unable to hit him in stride and the passes resulted in incompletions.
***Tyrin Ferguson got the reps as the No. 2 MIKE with Chris Weber out. He's still got plenty of learning to do, but he absolutely looks the part. He's a specimen for a freshman.
***Another day, another couple exciting plays for Stanley Morgan. First the freshman made a beautiful catch on a back-shoulder fade by Tommy Armstrong at the goal line. Later in practice he made a great adjustment on an underthrown fly route and raced past the rest of the secondary for a long touchdown.
***There was a scout from the Jacksonville Jaguars in attendance.
Sean’s observations
***Once again on Thursday I’d say the defense had the upper hand and really looked dominant at times. There were a number of interceptions they made in drills and they got pressure in the backfield at times.
***Some of the players that made interceptions I tracked were Jonathon Rose picked off Ryker Fyfe, Trai Mosley had one off AJ Bush, Nathan Gerry had a couple off Tommy Armstrong while Joshua Kalu had one in his hands that he dropped.
I’ve been very impressed with both Kalu and Gerry. They’ve had the best camps from what we’ve seen in the secondary, and if they played tomorrow I’d rate Kalu as the top corner right with Daniel Davie.
***Freshman wide receiver Stanley Morgan had another big practice. He had an impressive TD catch in a red zone drill where he pulled the ball down over two defenders. Fyfe had a nice deep ball throw to him as well. After both plays Keith Williams jumped around and really praised his efforts.
***Two former players I noticed at practice were defensive lineman Terry Connealy and offensive lineman Kyle Kollmorgen. Former offensive line coach Milt Tenopir was also at practice again on Thursday.
***Loved seeing Nebraska work on the screen game on Thursday. Watching Mikale Wilbon catch screens and operate with it in space is a thing of beauty.
Terrell Newby also had a nice one-handed catch on a screen. Both Newby and Wilbon had good practice where they had explosive runs up the middle. Today they are the top two backs in my opinion. I was told Wilbon has really matured over this last year and he came to camp a different player from the spring.
***My money is still on Zack Darlington as the No. 2 quarterback. His feel for the game is by far the best. He doesn’t have the strongest arm, but he always gets it to the receivers where they can make a play and he feels pressure in the pocket better than the other quarterbacks. He delivered a pair of good throws to tight end Matt Snyder and wide receiver Brady Pelzer.
AJ Bush has not looked like the quarterback yet we saw in the first two weeks of the spring. I don’t know if he’s going through some arm soreness, but to me he doesn’t have the same velocity, touch or accuracy on his passes we saw in the spring.
***This defensive scheme seems much more aggressive with how they use the linebackers then before. On one play they sent Michael Rose-Ivey on a blitz up the middle and he got to Armstrong even before he could get into his drop.
***The two hardest hits of the day came from in-state walk-on players. Tight end Luke McNitt absolutely trucked defensive back Anthony Ridder in the open field on a screen play, while fullback Harrison Jordon lowered his shoulder and plowed over freshman linebacker Tyrin Ferguson.
After Jordan’s run one of the players on the sideline yelled “cinderblock just rolled you!” Evidently that’s the nickname for Jordan. After Andy Janovich graduates Jordan looks like Nebraska’s next fullback, but I imagine he’ll have a role this year on special teams.
Nate's observations
***I noticed a couple scouts at tonight’s practice, one was from the Jacksonville Jaguars. Former Husker OL coach Milt Tenopir and former DB coach George Darlington were in attendance tonight. There were also a couple of former Huskers there including Terry Connealy.
***Cornerbacks Jonathan Rose and Trai Mosley started tonight’s practice off with some interceptions in 7-on-7 work. Nate Gerry joined the party later on with two of his own. Gerry flashed his speed on the first one as he broke hard on a nicely thrown ball. His second one came on a deflection from Daniel Davie.
***True freshman receiver Stanley Morgan continues to have an impressive camp. He once again made several big plays on the night. He had a nice touchdown catch early on while they were working on their redzone passing game. Daniel Davie had tight coverage, but Morgan has great hands and a knack for catching contested passes. He caught a deep pass later on in the night against Jonathan Rose, who once again was in position to defend the pass but Morgan just made a great play on the ball.
***Tommy Armstrong had a nice touchdown pass in redzone work to receiver Gabe Rahn. He hit Rahn on a slant route that was perfectly thrown.
***True freshman running back Devine Ozigbo flashed his hands tonight catching a few balls out of the backfield. This is an area where Ozigbo excelled in high school.
***The linebackers continue to be impressive, especially Josh Banderas and Michael Rose-Ivey. Both players seem to be all over the field making plays every practice and I’ve been impressed with Rose-Ivey’s speed and quickness coming off of his injury. Look for both of those guys to be disruptive this fall.
***Running back Mikale Wilbon added a few more big plays to his fall camp highlight reel tonight. He took a screen pass to the house tonight against the second team defense that was executed perfectly by everyone. Wilbon had great blocking and was untouched after the catch.
***Running back Terrell Newby had a few nice inside runs during live team action. There was one in particular where he hit the hole hard, made a guy miss and showed great burst on his way through the defense.
***Terrell Newby also had a heck of a kick return where he made a decisive cut and turned on the jets.
***Of the freshmen linebackers, Dedrick Young and Tyrin Ferguson are proving they belong on the field in some capacity. Young has been running with the top backups since the spring and Ferguson has already worked his way up to the two’s through the first week of practice. The future looks bright at the linebacker position.
***Linebacker Mohamed Barry and safety Antonio Reed may be just true freshmen, but they’ve showed that they aren’t afraid to mix it up with some of the older guys and they’ve backed it up for the most part. However, Reed did get knocked down a peg or two as Adam Taylor cleaned his clock along the sideline later on in practice.
***Fullback Harrison Jordan had the hardest hit of the night at Tyrin Ferguson’s expense. Jordan caught a screen pass and lowered his head/shoulder into an oncoming Ferguson. The hit was loud and put Ferguson on his back. Kind of a welcome to college moment for the young linebacker.
***Redshirt freshman offensive lineman Nick Gates looked good running with the top unit at right tackle once again tonight. There was one play though where Maliek Collins was rushing off the edge as a defensive end that made Gates look like a redshirt freshman.
***As I mentioned last Tuesday night, true freshman offensive lineman Jalin Barnett is a mauler. He had another impressive practice tonight and was working with the two’s for an extended period of time towards the end of tonight.
***It was good to see defensive tackle Vincent Valentine back at practice tonight. I didn’t think that he appeared slowed by any injury tonight. In fact, he looked as quick and powerful as ever.
***True freshman offensive lineman Michael Decker was working at center tonight.
***Joshua Kalu almost had one of the top plays of the night when he broke hard on a pass to Alonzo Moore and almost had an incredible interception.
***True freshman safety Aaron Williams was seeing a lot of time with the top unit’s nickel defense.
Robin's observations
***It’s been said time and again, but freshman wide out Stanley Morgan is going to be an absolute stud. No player is benefitting more from these recent practices more than Morgan, as he’s getting tons of reps with so many receivers out and he just keeps making play after to play. I’m not saying there’s a chance he’s going to play this season, I’m saying with 100-percent certainty that he will, as he’s leaving the coaches no choice but to put him out there.
***It was another day, another big play from redshirt freshman running back Mikale Wilbon on a screen pass. Just like Morgan, Wilbon is making it very difficult for Nebraska not to find a way to get him on the field in some capacity this season.
***Michael Rose-Ivey may have had his best practice of fall camp on Thursday night. During one sequence the linebacker destroyed running back Adam Taylor in the backfield on a draw play as soon as Taylor got the ball, and he then blew up Taylor again on a perfectly read screen pass on the very next play. On the play right after that, Rose-Ivey shot right through the line on a blitz for a sack on Tommy Armstrong (he didn’t hit him, fortunately for Tommy).
***Another receiver who is reaping the benefits of the lack of depth at the position right now is redshirt freshman walk-on Brady Pelzer. In fact, receivers coach Keith Williams has already given Pelzer a nickname: “Torpedo”. That’s a big deal when Williams gives you a personalized moniker.
***Yes, the quarterbacks didn’t look good again on Thursday, but it’s definitely not all their fault. The receiver situation is really hurting the offensive performance, and the guys that are in there have been running way too many incorrect routes and are just not on the same page as the QBs. Armstrong and Co. will probably get knocked again by local media, but to put their struggles solely on their shoulders would be unfair.
***One of the funnier moments happened at the beginning of practice, when Keith Williams was trying to teach Morgan and sophomore safety Kieron Williams and the words to N.W.A.’s “Straight Outta Compton”, which was playing on the practice mixtape. The players at least acted like they were into it, but they weren’t feeling it nearly as much as Williams and some of the other coaches. Kids these days…
Dan's observations
***The secondary had its best night of the fall so far. The secondary had four inceptions, including two by Nate Gerry, and Joshua Kalu, who had yet another strong night, dropped two more. The group as a whole looked very strong and allowed very few completions.
***On the flip side, the quarterbacks had a rough night. They were working without De'Mornay Pierson-El, Jordan Westerkamp, Lane Hovey, Taariq Allen and Brandon Reilly, so their weapons were limited and that certainly affected their performance. But the accuracy overall didn't seem to be there for the position, and there were some visible frustrations shown by the offensive players and coaches.
***Givens Price was working at defensive tackle with the second unit and Hank Hughes said he believes the move is permanent.
***At this point I'd be shocked if Drew Brown isn't the place kicker when the season begins. Jamie Sutcliffe hasn't given him much of a battle and Brown has looked just fine.
***Antonio Reed brings some nastiness to the defense. Working mostly with the No. 3 defense (though he did get a few reps with the twos), Reed was part of one minor scuffle early in practice and had to be separated from a receiver. Later during the scrimmage session Trey Foster made a nice catch for a first down and signaled like an official while dropping the ball. Reed caught the ball and flipped it off Foster's back as the tight end ran back to the huddle, obviously displeased with Foster's showboating.
***The defensive players really seem to be rooting for Charles Jackson. For the second straight open practice Jackson made a jarring hit along the boundary that brought the entire sideline to life. Jackson hasn't gotten much time on the field and has worked mostly with the third-string defense, but there is still hope that he can make an impact if he can stay healthy.
***Alonzo Moore showed great speed and beat his man several times on fly routes, but each time the quarterbacks were unable to hit him in stride and the passes resulted in incompletions.
***Tyrin Ferguson got the reps as the No. 2 MIKE with Chris Weber out. He's still got plenty of learning to do, but he absolutely looks the part. He's a specimen for a freshman.
***Another day, another couple exciting plays for Stanley Morgan. First the freshman made a beautiful catch on a back-shoulder fade by Tommy Armstrong at the goal line. Later in practice he made a great adjustment on an underthrown fly route and raced past the rest of the secondary for a long touchdown.
***There was a scout from the Jacksonville Jaguars in attendance.
Sean’s observations
***Once again on Thursday I’d say the defense had the upper hand and really looked dominant at times. There were a number of interceptions they made in drills and they got pressure in the backfield at times.
***Some of the players that made interceptions I tracked were Jonathon Rose picked off Ryker Fyfe, Trai Mosley had one off AJ Bush, Nathan Gerry had a couple off Tommy Armstrong while Joshua Kalu had one in his hands that he dropped.
I’ve been very impressed with both Kalu and Gerry. They’ve had the best camps from what we’ve seen in the secondary, and if they played tomorrow I’d rate Kalu as the top corner right with Daniel Davie.
***Freshman wide receiver Stanley Morgan had another big practice. He had an impressive TD catch in a red zone drill where he pulled the ball down over two defenders. Fyfe had a nice deep ball throw to him as well. After both plays Keith Williams jumped around and really praised his efforts.
***Two former players I noticed at practice were defensive lineman Terry Connealy and offensive lineman Kyle Kollmorgen. Former offensive line coach Milt Tenopir was also at practice again on Thursday.
***Loved seeing Nebraska work on the screen game on Thursday. Watching Mikale Wilbon catch screens and operate with it in space is a thing of beauty.
Terrell Newby also had a nice one-handed catch on a screen. Both Newby and Wilbon had good practice where they had explosive runs up the middle. Today they are the top two backs in my opinion. I was told Wilbon has really matured over this last year and he came to camp a different player from the spring.
***My money is still on Zack Darlington as the No. 2 quarterback. His feel for the game is by far the best. He doesn’t have the strongest arm, but he always gets it to the receivers where they can make a play and he feels pressure in the pocket better than the other quarterbacks. He delivered a pair of good throws to tight end Matt Snyder and wide receiver Brady Pelzer.
AJ Bush has not looked like the quarterback yet we saw in the first two weeks of the spring. I don’t know if he’s going through some arm soreness, but to me he doesn’t have the same velocity, touch or accuracy on his passes we saw in the spring.
***This defensive scheme seems much more aggressive with how they use the linebackers then before. On one play they sent Michael Rose-Ivey on a blitz up the middle and he got to Armstrong even before he could get into his drop.
***The two hardest hits of the day came from in-state walk-on players. Tight end Luke McNitt absolutely trucked defensive back Anthony Ridder in the open field on a screen play, while fullback Harrison Jordon lowered his shoulder and plowed over freshman linebacker Tyrin Ferguson.
After Jordan’s run one of the players on the sideline yelled “cinderblock just rolled you!” Evidently that’s the nickname for Jordan. After Andy Janovich graduates Jordan looks like Nebraska’s next fullback, but I imagine he’ll have a role this year on special teams.
Nate's observations
***I noticed a couple scouts at tonight’s practice, one was from the Jacksonville Jaguars. Former Husker OL coach Milt Tenopir and former DB coach George Darlington were in attendance tonight. There were also a couple of former Huskers there including Terry Connealy.
***Cornerbacks Jonathan Rose and Trai Mosley started tonight’s practice off with some interceptions in 7-on-7 work. Nate Gerry joined the party later on with two of his own. Gerry flashed his speed on the first one as he broke hard on a nicely thrown ball. His second one came on a deflection from Daniel Davie.
***True freshman receiver Stanley Morgan continues to have an impressive camp. He once again made several big plays on the night. He had a nice touchdown catch early on while they were working on their redzone passing game. Daniel Davie had tight coverage, but Morgan has great hands and a knack for catching contested passes. He caught a deep pass later on in the night against Jonathan Rose, who once again was in position to defend the pass but Morgan just made a great play on the ball.
***Tommy Armstrong had a nice touchdown pass in redzone work to receiver Gabe Rahn. He hit Rahn on a slant route that was perfectly thrown.
***True freshman running back Devine Ozigbo flashed his hands tonight catching a few balls out of the backfield. This is an area where Ozigbo excelled in high school.
***The linebackers continue to be impressive, especially Josh Banderas and Michael Rose-Ivey. Both players seem to be all over the field making plays every practice and I’ve been impressed with Rose-Ivey’s speed and quickness coming off of his injury. Look for both of those guys to be disruptive this fall.
***Running back Mikale Wilbon added a few more big plays to his fall camp highlight reel tonight. He took a screen pass to the house tonight against the second team defense that was executed perfectly by everyone. Wilbon had great blocking and was untouched after the catch.
***Running back Terrell Newby had a few nice inside runs during live team action. There was one in particular where he hit the hole hard, made a guy miss and showed great burst on his way through the defense.
***Terrell Newby also had a heck of a kick return where he made a decisive cut and turned on the jets.
***Of the freshmen linebackers, Dedrick Young and Tyrin Ferguson are proving they belong on the field in some capacity. Young has been running with the top backups since the spring and Ferguson has already worked his way up to the two’s through the first week of practice. The future looks bright at the linebacker position.
***Linebacker Mohamed Barry and safety Antonio Reed may be just true freshmen, but they’ve showed that they aren’t afraid to mix it up with some of the older guys and they’ve backed it up for the most part. However, Reed did get knocked down a peg or two as Adam Taylor cleaned his clock along the sideline later on in practice.
***Fullback Harrison Jordan had the hardest hit of the night at Tyrin Ferguson’s expense. Jordan caught a screen pass and lowered his head/shoulder into an oncoming Ferguson. The hit was loud and put Ferguson on his back. Kind of a welcome to college moment for the young linebacker.
***Redshirt freshman offensive lineman Nick Gates looked good running with the top unit at right tackle once again tonight. There was one play though where Maliek Collins was rushing off the edge as a defensive end that made Gates look like a redshirt freshman.
***As I mentioned last Tuesday night, true freshman offensive lineman Jalin Barnett is a mauler. He had another impressive practice tonight and was working with the two’s for an extended period of time towards the end of tonight.
***It was good to see defensive tackle Vincent Valentine back at practice tonight. I didn’t think that he appeared slowed by any injury tonight. In fact, he looked as quick and powerful as ever.
***True freshman offensive lineman Michael Decker was working at center tonight.
***Joshua Kalu almost had one of the top plays of the night when he broke hard on a pass to Alonzo Moore and almost had an incredible interception.
***True freshman safety Aaron Williams was seeing a lot of time with the top unit’s nickel defense.
Robin's observations
***It’s been said time and again, but freshman wide out Stanley Morgan is going to be an absolute stud. No player is benefitting more from these recent practices more than Morgan, as he’s getting tons of reps with so many receivers out and he just keeps making play after to play. I’m not saying there’s a chance he’s going to play this season, I’m saying with 100-percent certainty that he will, as he’s leaving the coaches no choice but to put him out there.
***It was another day, another big play from redshirt freshman running back Mikale Wilbon on a screen pass. Just like Morgan, Wilbon is making it very difficult for Nebraska not to find a way to get him on the field in some capacity this season.
***Michael Rose-Ivey may have had his best practice of fall camp on Thursday night. During one sequence the linebacker destroyed running back Adam Taylor in the backfield on a draw play as soon as Taylor got the ball, and he then blew up Taylor again on a perfectly read screen pass on the very next play. On the play right after that, Rose-Ivey shot right through the line on a blitz for a sack on Tommy Armstrong (he didn’t hit him, fortunately for Tommy).
***Another receiver who is reaping the benefits of the lack of depth at the position right now is redshirt freshman walk-on Brady Pelzer. In fact, receivers coach Keith Williams has already given Pelzer a nickname: “Torpedo”. That’s a big deal when Williams gives you a personalized moniker.
***Yes, the quarterbacks didn’t look good again on Thursday, but it’s definitely not all their fault. The receiver situation is really hurting the offensive performance, and the guys that are in there have been running way too many incorrect routes and are just not on the same page as the QBs. Armstrong and Co. will probably get knocked again by local media, but to put their struggles solely on their shoulders would be unfair.
***One of the funnier moments happened at the beginning of practice, when Keith Williams was trying to teach Morgan and sophomore safety Kieron Williams and the words to N.W.A.’s “Straight Outta Compton”, which was playing on the practice mixtape. The players at least acted like they were into it, but they weren’t feeling it nearly as much as Williams and some of the other coaches. Kids these days…
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